Growing up in Rosewood
by Ollsibub
Summary: It s not easy, being a teenager living in Rosewood. Knowing who you are and where you belong. And with the McCullers and Hastings families' constant rivalry, Paige finally tires of it and decides to live her life her own way, to her father's disapproval. But Spencer is still stuck with the expectations that are being thrown over her, but finds an unexpected friend in Paige. AU
1. Prologue

**Growing up in Rosewood**

Prologue

"You should´ve thought about it! Why can´t you just think on your own?! You _never_ get _anything_!"

Emily´s voice carried through the house, angry and loud. Paige hated when she got like this, because whenever something became tough in Emily's life the girl would take it out on Paige. She was happy that Emily´s parents at least were out, she wouldn´t have been able to handle the mortification of Mr. and Mrs. Fields hearing Emily roaring at her.

"No matter what I do, you´re never satisfied" Paige mumbled out, unable to hold in her thoughts. She had gotten tired. So tired of constantly trying to please Emily, while it never seemed to be enough.

"What was that" Emily hissed, her eyes narrowing. Paige had never talked back against her.

It was like something just broke inside Paige then. Or like a plug in an overfilled bathtub had been pulled out, the water just seeping out with no way of stopping it. Before she could collect herself, her mouth said aloud all the things that had burdened Paige about her and Emily´s relationship for a long time.

"I do think. About you. Constantly. About what would make you happy, about what would please you, every way of me helping you. I do everything I can for _you_. But you just never seem to be satisfied" She hissed back, her eyes becoming darker by the second.

"Well you don´t seem to be very good at it" Emily stepped closer, her body tense and eye´s judging.

"Yeah, maybe you´re right. Maybe I´m just not fit to be your lapdog, for you to throw crap at whenever you feel like it. I´m tired Emily. Because there´s two people in this relationship, not just you. I´ve given you everything that I have been able to, yet you give nothing back. You´re suffocating me Emily, and I can´t do this anymore."

Emily´s eyes widened with realization, as she stepped back her eyes immediately showing regret. "What are you saying" she gasped.

"As much I´m in love with you, I can´t do this anymore. Not when I know that you´ve never really loved me back. It´s over Emily, I´m sorry"

And that´s the last thing Paige said to Emily before she stepped out of the cozy house she had become so familiar with. She made her best effort to keep her head held up high as she walked away on the empty sidewalk from Emily, while hearing her shouting that if she left now she would never take her back.

For the first time in 6 months she felt free. She was truly free, both from her father´s expectations as well as her suffocating relationship with Emily. Finally, she could just be and think about herself.

The lightness in her body seemed to take over, her body breaking out in a pleasurable jog which turned into full speed running taking in the houses and trees flying by her, turning into a blur. She ran wherever her legs took her, even to places she had no idea where she was. Feeling her feet wanting to make a turn, she entered the forest path, going to god-knows-where.

Never had running felt so good.


	2. Chapter 1

Heeey. So the first chapter/chapters will start of a little slow because I don´t want to rush the characters into a corny friendship. I hope you´re okay with that. I´m unsure as to what relationship the characters are going to have, romance or just friendship so if anyone´s got a really strong wish for which one, please tell me. As much as I like McHastings, them being just friends is also really sweet. As for possible Pailey, no clue. To be honest, I´m becoming bored with Emily she just seems so…dull and pessimistic nowadays. I mean she has lots of reasons, but still… That´s why I´ll always have a soft spot for Paige. Anyhow, thanks for reading, and I will do my best not to disappoint you. Sorry for all of the incorrect writing.

Chapter 1

Today was a Sunday in the middle of September, the warmth of summer showing no sign of making place for the coming autumn. While looking out of the window, Paige took a deep breath and listened to the birds outside, feeling a soothing calmness after yesterday. After months of stress and pressure from family, school, and her girlfriend, Paige had snapped. She had went to her swimming coach and resigned from the team, not budging from her decision even after the coach had tried to persuade her for a full 20 minutes.

Coming home from school, her dad had been furious after finding out about her having quit the team. He had started yelling about how the Hastings daughter who excelled in academics, Spencer Hastings, would get an upper hand after Paige had abandoned the thing that made her being the top athlete in school.

But Paige had for the first time in her life stood her ground against her over-demanding father and yelled back. Saying that she couldn´t give a fuck about how the Hastings saw them or that they were "better", and that he could screw of, get off her back, and let her live life the way she wanted to. Oh, and she finally threw out the "I´m gay"-confession. And she had never been prouder of herself, even after her dad had lost all color in his face as he managed to sputter out that "she´s his little girl and that he knows what´s best for her" before Paige bolted out the door, letting him think it over in the house on his own.

Then she had gotten a text from Emily, which only said "get over here". It was never a good thing when Emily wrote that, many times had she yelled at Paige for something and taken her frustration out on the poor McCullers.

And once again she was proven right; Emily had been so pissed off at her, yet again for something genuinely nice that Paige had tried to do for her. Before she knew it, Paige had called their broken relationship to an end, surprising herself for finding an incredible amount of courage she didn´t even know she had.

She had been spellbound by Emily for several years, dreaming of being close to her, gazing at her from afar, never really having the courage to get close. Emily had been that person that just seemed too good to be true. Like a princess, and Paige would dream of riding up to her on a black horse, and sweep her away like the princes in the fairytales. Eventually, Emily and Paige had somehow gotten together, no matter how unlikely it may have seemed.

Unfortunately, after a while, Paige had gotten to experience that movie romances didn´t work in real life. Emily was beautiful and often kind, but was driven by her mood swings and temper which would be directed at Paige. She had been together with Emily for a good 6 months, and now it felt like it was just some kind of sad dream. No texts and no calls. She felt stupid but couldn´t help it; she did miss Emily even though their relationship had been bad for them both. For some reason, it´s never really that easy. She could only hope the empty feeling would fade away as quickly as possible. This was for the best. This would make them both happier. Though, Paige had to admit that she still feared a bit of going to school tomorrow. With some luck, she could avoid Emily for a couple of days at least. Or maybe she didn´t need to, after all there was no reason for Emily to talk to her anymore.

Breaking out of her thoughts, she descended down the stairs quietly, not wanting to wake up her parents and starting a follow up argument from yesterday. She had sneaked in through her window last night, successfully undetected by her parents after having been away the whole day. She wanted to keep it that way, at least for a little while.

She took her self-modified bike from the garage and hooked on a wooden trailer with two big wheels taken from one of Paige´s old bicycles. She loaded on wooden planks and secured them with a rope, pulling it as tight as she could muster, adding a hammer, a saw, and a box of iron nails before taking of.

Being outside in the fresh summer/autumn at 6 o´clock on a Sunday, there was little to no activity in the neighborhood. No cars on the roads, and no children playing outside on the lawns. Of course after having made a turn some hundred meters from her house, she spotted Spencer Hastings jogging in her direction.

Spencer with her dark blue running suit, first looked surprised, then got a little frown on her face. Her father was hostile towards the McCullers and had always told Spencer to be excellent school. At least better than the McCullers daughter, Paige.

The two men had apparently started this "feud" because of some incident at work, something about a job promotion that turned into a big argument. It escalated into the two of them bragging to each other about which of their daughter was more talented, smart, athletic and so on. It had turned into a competition and the two girls had of course never become friends because of that. Both of them had to constantly "do better", nothing ever being enough. It was like chasing a ghost, a ghost that never seemed to leave you alone. Though Spencer and Paige both had learned to enjoy competing with each other, their fathers would often try to push them too far. And the rivalry fun would just be changed with dislike sometimes.

Spencer eyed Paige warily, clearly curious about all of the building materials and what they were for.

"McCullers" Spencer said with a slight bite as she eyes stared hard into Paige´s, clearly not trying to sound nice in the least.

Paige merely shrugged and smiled. She had no reason to compete with Spencer anymore. "Hastings" she replied softly, and merely continued onward, leaving Spencer to continue jogging past her.

Spencer got taken back by the other girl´s kind response, and eyed the back of the girl on the bicycle like she was an alien from Mars. She shrugged it off, turned back to resume her morning jog, and continued ahead. Though as much as she hated it, she had become extremely curious as to what Paige McCullers was up to. She looked back seeing that the girl was out of sight, once again there was no sight of anyone being up and awake other than Spencer.

"Maybe next time" she grumbled, before taking out her headset and began listening to her _lovesongs_-playlist.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Alright McCullers, what are you up to?"

She slammed Paige´s locker shut trying to get some kind of reaction of the girl. It was almost scary how the hotheaded girl had become so docile all of a sudden. And her apparent closet change. Her feminine shirts and large earrings had now been exchanged with more hoodies and loose flannel shirts, somehow making her toned legs attract more attention in her skinny jeans. At least from Spencer, but of course that was something she would never consciously admit. Noticing changes in Paige McCullers slight change of clothing style, least of all commenting on it to the girl in question? Hell no, that sounded like she actually paid attention to her looks. As if.

"Look Hastings, what do you want me to say, that I´m a secret member in a league of evil villains with superpowers? That I´m scheming to take over Rosewood with my secret weapon stash I keep in my underwear drawer?"

She sighed as eyed Spencer before re-opening her locker searching for her math book.

"Ha-ha, funny McCullers. Look, you´ve been strange the whole week. Or what would be considered normal and civilized for ordinary people, I know you and I know that _something´s_ going on"

Paige grabbed her books, and slammed her locker shut making Spencer jump slightly from the other girls apparent anger sizzling in her eyes.

"I´m getting kinda tired of your accusations Spencer. Why is it so goddamn hard to accept that maybe I don´t have to pick a fight with you every second of my life?"

Spencer stepped back, feeling a bit like a little child about to get chewed out by an adult. She bit the inside of her cheek as she did when she didn´t have a good enough answer, trying to come up with a reply.

"Just,_ b__ecause_" Spencer said exasperatedly, flailing her arms around looking flustered and finally settled her gaze on Paige. When she saw the other girls smirk though, she immediately tensed and her eyes narrowed back to the trademark Hastings glare, crossing her arms held her chin up high. She had an unsettling feeling that Paige had a really nasty comeback.

Paige leaned forward, with a smirk on her face, just a few inches from Spencer clearly making the other girl flustered. Paige leaned in and whispered, with a teasing smile on her lips:

"If you wanted my attention Hastings then you could´ve just said so"

That was all Paige said as she scampered of to her class, leaving Spencer unable to shoot back a comment. Paige smirked, feeling pleased about herself. `Hastings is so gonna chew on that sour apple for a while´. She realized that she had missed interacting with Spencer, and she understood that the same thing probably applied to the other girl as well.

Spencer on her end, was still standing at the locker blinking her eyes as if waking up from a hypnosis. She was not prepared for that. She merely growled as she scampered off to her own locker, mumbling out swearwords for her lack of a comeback.

Paige had made the day her most enjoyable yet, doing everything she could to rub her sweet victory over Spencer in the latter girls face, waggling her eyebrows whenever they bumped into each other and saying "miss me yet Hastings" much to Spencer´s dismay as she rolled her eyes every time choosing not to comment. Though Spencer had to admit, this was much more like the annoyingly exhausting Paige McCullers she knew and she was more comfortable with them this way. Having Paige doing a 360 on her, suddenly not being on bad terms with her and almost not coming to speak with her anymore, felt more like Paige didn´t acknowledge her at all. And no matter how stupid it sounded, Spencer actually enjoyed their chivalry from time to time. It was… their thing or something. Everyone one else wouldn´t dare to question Spencer Hastings in any way, and in no way was they friends, but she felt like she needed the challenge. It was…relieving.

"Were you a bit lonely without me Hastings? Need a friendly hug?"

"You´d like that wouldn´t you" Spencer shot back with a friendly smirk as she raised her eyebrows, deciding to shut Paige up with a similar teasing reply, making the other girl stumble on her words a bit. Paige looked surprised for a second but then merely grinned at her and shrugged her shoulders and headed to her final class for the day. "Yeah, but I don´t think my _allergies_ would allow it. Later Hastings"

Paige could gloat in her small moment of victory all she wanted while she had the chance, if that made her happy. Spencer could give her that one for free.

After school in the afternoon, Spencer was out on her daily jog as usual making up for skipping it this morning. As she was nearing Paige´s quarter she actually saw said girl on her bicycle with that weird trailer filled with small furniture and pillows and other stuff. Paige was oblivious to Spencer eyeing her, she pedaled on and took a right to a trail into the woods with her ponytail wagging back and forth in the calm wind.

No way could Spencer hold off her curiosity, and found herself following Paige as well as she could, running faster as not to lose sight of her as she did the previous time and soon found herself swatting away branches as she was careful to stubble over any tree roots.

After a little while she actually lost sight of the girl on the bicycle and groaned loudly.

"Why does she have to be so frickin´ fast" She said as she pulled away some of the slightly clammy bangs from her forehead.

As she was about to turn around and give up on her small hunt, she heard a loud snap to the left, somewhere through the trees. She glanced down on the ground and found some wheel tracks leading into the forest, following as she swatted away the small insects buzzing around her.

"Lovely" she grumbled as she smacked a fly that had just landed on her thigh, making the smashed fly leave a little smudge of blood.

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Paige was just laying out the madras on the wooden floor as she heard rustling. She looked out through a big rectangular hole in the thin wooden wall that served as a window, seeing Spencer Hastings standing at the small clearing a short distance away with her jaw slack staring up at her.

"Well fancy seeing you here Hastings," She said as she climbed down the rope-ladder "don´t take this the wrong way, but you look a bit messed up" Paige said chuckling as she eyed Spencer with her ruffled, slightly sweaty hair, and the small smudges throughout her body.

"Huh. Yeah I ran into your army of bloodsuckers back there," she shrugged her shoulders a bit, the glanced up at the tree house again. "Did _you_ build that?"

Apparently she chose to ignore Paige´s comment on her current looks.

"Yeah. You want to come up and see?"

"Sure"

As Paige just had started climbing the rope ladder and was just a few inches above the ground, she stopped and turned to Spencer as she tried to keep the corners of her mouth from busting her serious face.

"What" Spencer said, confused and a bit impatient.

"Don´t stare up at my ass Hastings, I know it´s a beauty but I wouldn´t want you to get so engrossed that you fall down when you´re climbing"

Spencer´s eyebrows shot up into her scalp, and smacked Paige´s calf.

TBC.

Woooo. I finally got around to start writing this chapter. I´m one of those that has ideas but don´t have the self discipline to follow them through, or I tend to forget (I have the organization skills and memory of a gold fish haha), but I get the work done when I finally sit down on my ass and start. Oh right, I have some scenes I have planned that I really want to be in this that I´ve thought out beforehand, one of them possibly a moderately hot steamy…Oh no right it´d be dumb of me to spoil. ;) I´m aiming for this fic to be maybe 10 chapters long, but we´ll see. Anyhow thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Paige jumped on to her home made not-so-luxurious bed and let her head sink into the small ocean of pillows and let out a groan, her back feeling the wooden planks through the madras. She would have to bring another one next time.

Spencer gazed around, impressed by the size. It wasn´t too small and not too big. It was cozy and yet spacious. Paige had just started decorating it a bit, with an old little end table at the corner beside the large bed Paige had dived into. She looked up at the ceiling and saw that Paige had done a thorough job; it looked well built, sturdy, and waterproof. She could feel a grin threatening to show on her lips. Only Paige McCullers would try to turn tree-house-building into a professional hobby.

"So, are you planning on getting a job as a carpenter? I didn´t know you took woodshop classes" Spencer said, as she sat down on a fluffy cushion while grazing her fingers along the smooth, unpainted, wooden floor.

"I don´t" Paige raised her head and leaned forward, her hands fidgeting with the blue blanket she was sitting on. "I got some tips. From Caleb"

"Caleb?" Spencer's eyebrows shot up and eyed the other girl warily. "Hanna´s boyfriend?"

"Yeah" Paige shrugged. "He made notes and helped me with the planning. Sure I can use a hammer and saw, but I can´t plan something like this all on my own"

Spencer scoffed. She began feeling agitation and anger, both which were directed at Paige. "Well, who knew you and Caleb were all buddy-buddy" she said as the sarcasm flowed out of her mouth.

Paige blinked, looking confused and slightly hurt by Spencer´s sudden change of mood. They had been getting on so well recently and now she felt like Spencer was about to pull back again to the way they used to be.

"Hastings, what´s the problem? He´s really nice you know, if you got to know him more you´d think so too" she said, trying to get a hint from Spencer´s eyes about her apparent dislike, except the girl just stared out the window with a frown. Then it clicked.

"Oh my god, you´re not thinking that…" Paige´s eyes was bulging out of her skull, a smile pulling at her lips until she burst out in laughter, barely being able to talk between her wheezing and tears of laughter. "Please tell me you´re not suspecting that me and Caleb are secretly hooking up? Oh my god, no, just no!" she wheezed out while holding her stomach.

Spencer felt a slight burn spreading over her cheeks at her misconception and having let her temper gotten the better of her. "_So_, it´s not like he´s unattractive and that it´s not a possibility" she defended, tucking her hair behind her ears, looking outside not wanting to give Paige the satisfaction of seeing her slightly mortified face.

Paige´s laugh attack was slowly subsiding; she sat up again and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. "_Yeah_, not happening" she giggled, looking at Spencer with warm eyes. This situation felt so _bizarre_ and _unreal_ somehow. Being this friendly with each other, not trying to rip each other´s throats out every second they have the opportunity too. And yet it felt so comfortable, so _natural_.

Paige thought she´d get angry, seeing that Spencer followed her here, interrupting her own private space. A place that worked like Paige´s free zone these days, where she canjust relax and do whatever she want without any adults or friends nagging and demanding. She thought she´d get angry at Spencer for just barging in on her out here, making her secret hideout not so secret anymore. She supposed it was because she could relate to the other girl, they had a simple acceptance of each other now. And that felt calming.

Spencer´s phone suddenly let a low melody, buzzing in her tight running-jacket. Spencer grumbled a bit, snapped up her phone and saw that she had two new messages. One from her father and one from Toby.

"Loverboy?"Paige snarked.

"His name´s Toby" Spencer snapped back. "And he´s _not_ a `loverboy`"

Paige shrugged and picked up one of her tennisballs from the old drawer and bounced it against the floor as she slowly paced about, making hollow sounds against the wooden planks with every throw. "Well he certainly seems to feel that way?" she drawled slowly, glancing at Spencer as she treaded her words carefully.

"He´s… kind. It´s not like it´s a bad thing" Spencer shrugged, a slight crease in her forehead. Why was she even trying to defend herself against Paige about this question?

Paige´s phone suddenly buzzed, a text from Noel Kahn about one of his famous parties later tonight. She really didn´t understand what made him so popular. Sure he had good looks, but he acted like an ass when you really got to know him.

"I´m guessing that´s about Noel´s party?"

"Yeah. It just seems like a drag" Paige sighed.

Spencer stared outside for a bit with a thoughtful expression and then turned to Paige.

"You should go."

Paige´s eyes widened, cautious as to why Spencer would even want her to.

"Why?"

Spencer shrugged.

"It´ll be fun. And you´ve been off the social radar from a while. Maybe just show up and, you know, decide if you want to go home later" Spencer´s phone bleeped again, another text from her father. "I need to go"

Spencer was descending down the rope as she stopped, her head just peaking up above the planks, looking at Paige with a clouded expression.

"You should come to the party, okay?"

And then she left, with Paige dangling her legs at the edge, looking at Spencer´s back, the girl jogging away into the bushes and trees and soon disappeared out of sight. She thought about Spencer, about the party, and her friends from the swim team. And she thought a little about Emily.

**I´m kind of tired right now, schools a bitch. We need to finish our projects before graduation and the deadline´s in a few weeks, and I need to get started. Fast. So this story might not get updated all that regularly, it might take a few weeks. Just a heads up if you still want to keep reading, or if you´ve tired of it :P Haha I wouldn´t blame you ;) The romance is going to pick up soon, in maybe two-three chapters or something. Or at least slight hints of it, wouldn´t want to eat the whole cake at once, now would we? Or maybe we should just keep the Spoby "relationship"? ;) Hehe. **

**- A**


	5. Chapter 4 -Before the party

**Chapter 4 - before the party**

As soon as she stepped into the house, the sight of her father sitting on the couch greeted her, his eyes fixed on the business section. She tensed immediately, something that was now considered normal. He was her superior. That means she would show him respect, and him sitting on the couch with a newspaper almost always meant he was dissatisfied with something.

"Where´ve you been Spencer?" said Mr. Hastings, keeping his eyes on the newspaper, not sparing her a glance.

"I was out running" she said, nervous and sweaty.

He laid down the newspaper on the table and leaned back in his couch and crossed his legs, looking at her firmly.

"That´s good, but you know when you´re supposed to be home. We don´t have these rules for nothing"

"Yes sir" she had been careless, just running after McCullers like that. She knew how it worked in their household; of course he would get dissatisfied.

"Good" he answered, picking up his newspaper again.

Spencer just put her foot on the staircase, on her way to her room, when Mr. Hastings called out to her again.

"By the way, we just got a deal with the Cavanaugh's´. How is Toby? Are you good friends?"

Spencer bit her lip, thinking about their "friendship". He had been putting the moves on her since school started this year, and she hadn´t really given him any sort of reply what she thought about it. She neither liked nor disliked him.

"He´s kind and we get along. No worries"

"I´ve heard about this party at Noel Kahn´s tonight, you´re going am I correct?" he said, tone authoritative and firm.

Spencer tensed, braced herself for the chewing out she´d surely have to suffer through, and became unable to find her voice.

Mr. Hastings eyes peaked up from the newspaper pages, and sighed softly.

"Spencer, I found Melissa´s phone lying around with your conversation about it on the screen. Normally I´d ground you, but this "party" has a slight impact on my business deal with the Cavanaugh's´"

Spencer blinked, surprised, confused, angry and relieved at the same time. _Fuck it, I bet Melissa just left it like that for him to see. Bitch._ But wait, had she heard it right, would she be let off the hook this time?

"W-what do mean?"

Mr. Hastings put down the paper on the table and folded his hands, looking at Spencer with determined eyes.

"If possible, I´d like you to go there with Toby Cavanaugh. For our families to get along is extremely important right now, and I´ll trust you with this. It´s incredibly important Spencer, do you understand?"

"…Yes sir"

Toby had texted her about it earlier, asking her if she was going. She had planned to answer him that she was going with some friends. Seems like she´ll have to change her plans and ask him if he would like to go with her instead.

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"**You´re coming tonight, right?**"

"**Yeah, I planned on it. Some drinks could do me good right now**"

"**How about me and Caleb pick you up at 21?**"

"**Sounds great**"

Emily huffed as she laid her phone down beside her on the bed. She dangled her legs in the air looking up at the ceiling. Her head kept spinning, thoughts that overwhelmed her so much she came at a loss. A loss for what to do, feel, think. What the next step would be. Maya had come back from rehab two days ago, showing up on Emily´s doorstep with a rose. At first, Emily was at a loss of what to do. She wanted to both hug the girl and tell her to go away. She had loved Maya, and somewhere she would always hold a special place in Emily´s heart. She still did, even after she had twisted Emily around her little finger when they had been together. But when she had been sent to druggie camp, she had brushed Emily off completely saying she´d gotten together with someone else. And then she´d come back, having bought a flower and hoped to snake Emily around her little finger again, make her forget how she´d treated her, with a "Hey Em, I´ve missed you _so_ much!".

But as much as she wanted to take Maya back and say all was forgiven, she thought about Paige. The fact that Paige had broken up with her. And what she´d said. What they´d _both_ said. And with Maya there to finally give her the closure to _their _previous romance, she´d finally started to realize how she´d acted towards Paige. She had been acting _just _like Maya. Only thinking about herself, shutting herself in and slashing at the closest. How she had used Paige as a consolation, something to refill the gap that she felt after Maya. How she never really _saw_ Paige. Something she had realized when she´d met the one she somehow never had been able to let go, and now she realized it wasn´t worth it. Maya hadn´t been worth it, still isn´t. But Paige, she had tried. And now, Emily felt horrible.

She burrowed her face in her pillows. When one problem is solved, another seems to take its place. But she supposed she deserved this one. She had been _so_ immature. She had to apologize to Paige, tell her how she feel and finally be honest with her. But it felt so difficult. She had ruined it all. Ruined her chances with Paige and she hated it. Hated how she had been avoiding that incredibly gorgeous girl with that charming smile the whole week, because she had been so sad and angry, expecting Paige to come back to her if enough time went by. She groaned and grabbed her plushy shark. "What do I do now?"

A loud ring from her phone startled her so much that the shark fell to the floor.

A familiar voice sounded from the other side of the line.

"Dad?" her voice trembled. Emily and her mom had worried so much ever since they lost contact with Mr. Fields when he had entered the unstable warzone in Afghanistan. The last time they had heard from him was four weeks ago, when his squad had just gotten the order to dispatch.

And now he had called, and greeted her with a soft, loving "Hello Emily". She squeezed the phone so hard her knuckles turned white, biting her lip to keep herself from breaking out in a sob. Weeks of agitation, worry, tension, and stress seemingly being washed away by her father´s calming voice.

"It´s me sweetie"

"A-are you okay"

"I´m fine, you don´t need to worry. I´m taking a plane back home tomorrow. My time here is done"

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Paige gently pulled down the handle on the front door, carefully stepping inside and closing it as quietly as she could. She glanced around, searching for any confirmation that her parents were home.

She had stopped sneaking into her room through the window yesterday, feeling that it started to become silly. If her parents wanted to talk to her about the previous days, she should let them. The free time she´d had this week had let her focus on herself, and let her calm down. She believed her parents had also spent their respective time just as wisely.

She walked straight across the hall, when her mother´s voice called out to her from the kitchen.

"Paige honey I know that is you"

Like a child caught with their hand in the cookie-jar, she dragged her feet slowly toward the kitchen her face red being caught sneaking around.

As she turned around the corner, her mom stood by the kitchen bench, hand on her hip and tapped her foot with a heightened eyebrow, staring Paige down.

"…Hey mom" she rushed out with a squeak, fidgeting her toes.

Her mother seemed unimpressed and merely continued staring with her famous "Excuse-me-face". That is, until she just caved in and gave her daughter a big bear hug. They stayed like that for a while, her mother telling her how they´d missed her and how they´d tried to respect her wishes to be alone. How she wanted her home for real, and that she and her father had talked. They had talked about many things. That Nick realized he´d been pressing her against a wall. That they wanted to talk about it, as a family over diner. And that they both love her for who she is, nothing will ever change that.

Paige cried then, against her mother's shoulder, and said that she had the best mom in the world.

TBC

**I still haven´t begun on my school-project…Damn. Oh well, there´s always tomorrow. And this was more of a fill in chapter, so I apologize if you became disappointed.**

**Next chapter: Noel Kahn´s party! Yaaaay. I´m binding together Emily´s situation to the plot so we´ll have some background explanation about her and Paige. **

**There´s gonna be some Paige, Spencer and Emily interaction. Let the best woman win!**

**And it seems like Paige could come back home to a loving mother after days of avoidance. Good for her!**


	6. Chapter 5

**This chapter became relatively long, but I feel it became slightly…cheesy and corny. I´m not entirely satisfied with it but it´ll do, I´ve never been much of a writer anyway. **

**Getlostandruncici: Indeed, Emily is very spoiled. She has never been the one having to work for someone, even in the tv-show (except Ali of course).So now when she has stopped being pursued by Paige, she does everything in her might to get her back. Because she want´s what she deems belong to her ;) Having Paige being pursued by Spencer (and Emily) is therefore something I would like to explore in this fic. Especially a small triangle drama, where Spencer gets the girl.  
And yes, the treehouse is most definitely supposed to be their (Paige´s and Spencer´s) secret hideout only for the two of them. **

**Chapter 5 **

As usual, Noel Kahn´s parties never disappointed. His family had a vacation house just outside of Rosewood by a lake, with a huge backyard next to the woods. So much for a vacation home when it was just half an hour away from their house in Rosewood…

The night was dark and humid, though the decorative streetlamps on the yard lighted it up just enough to get a mysterious, cozy atmosphere. A light mist danced along the grass, the strong full moon illuminating it with its light. It felt oddly…romantic.

A place like this could really be a perfect place to go on a date. Unfortunately, the calming view was disrupted by the loud noise of yelling teenagers and hooting. Not that Paige minded though.

Shana was splashing water all around on the unfortunate people standing near the edge of the pool, after she´d done the bomb three times in a streak. She was definitely a bit tipsy, sometimes slurring a bit on her words. The teenagers getting splashed worried more about covering their drinks in their hands to not get any pool water mixed in though, rather than worrying about getting wet clothes. Something that was amusing in itself, especially when Shana laughed heartily after having caught someone off guard. Lucas had managed to get pulled into the pool by her, and had ended up as her accomplice and company, the two chatting away about art in music and photography as they swam around.

Paige was sitting by the edge of the pool with a grog in her hand, chatting with some of her classmates and a girl from the swimming team. She had enjoyed herself ever since she arrived, the party being a pleasant change of pace, even though she hadn´t planned on going. Spencer wasn´t so bad to listen to every once in a while.

Speaking of Spencer… Toby had followed her around all evening like a pup, asking her if she wanted him to get a drink for her, if she was cold, if she felt too warm, if they should take a short walk around the Khans'´ lake, how he showered her with his full attention, how he tried to sneakily lay his arms around her shoulder as they were sitting in the couch. It was almost a bit painful to watch. Spencer gave him small sincere smiles at first, apparently appreciating the attention. Now, Paige could see her smile was tense and that she started becoming more distant towards him whether she was aware of it or not.

Spencer looked towards Paige from the couch inside the house, gave her an apologetic smile and a small wave.

Paige returned the gesture, giving a small nod. Paige turned back to her company, though glancing back after a little while. Spencer once again got pulled into some conversation with Hanna and Caleb. Paige returned to chat with the circle of girls beside her, which Shana now had joined with her soaking clothes.

She got taken back to reality by a hand caressing her bare shoulder. "Hey Paige" Shana greeted her with a chirp.

Shana started chatting away, pulling Paige along in the conversation though she still glanced over at Spencer every now and then.

Paige felt slightly sorry for Toby. He was willing to do anything to get Spencer´s attention, but it still stings a bit when the person you like doesn´t like you as much back. She just thought that Toby should´ve given up when Spencer hadn´t shown her interest in him when school started. As to why Spencer came here together with him now, Paige was clueless. It made no sense.

"Paige?" her thoughts got interrupted as a familiar voice broke her trance.

Paige turned around slowly to not make herself dizzy from the alcohol, breaking away from the chatting circle and unconsciously from Shana´s hand, and saw Emily raking her eyes over her. "Emily?"

Paige was stunned. It hadn´t occurred to her that Emily probably would attend to this party as well, and she hadn´t really prepared herself for having a conversation with her. She looked as beautiful as usual, but she didn´t have those intense feelings pulling at her insides anymore. "I-uh… w-what´re you doing here"

_Smooth McCullers…Real smooth. Of all things you could´ve said, you picked that. _She instantly regretted having drunk so much.

"C-can I speak to you just for a minute? _Please_…" Emily´s voice pleading, about to reach out her hand to touch Paige´s arm but quickly drew her hand back as she realized what her body was doing on its own accord.

"Uh, I dunno Emily… I…" she hesitated, hand going up to her neck. She had expected Emily to be angry at her for when they had broken up. She did not expect Emily to be this calm and reserved, _pleading_ of all things. Memories going back to before their relationship went wrong, how she had worshipped the beautiful girl standing in front of her.

"_Please _Paige. Just give me 5 minutes. Let me try to treat you right, just this once at least"

XXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It´s a beautiful night isn´t it" Toby said, his mouth spewing out everything he could think of to say. He had been pleasantly surprised when Spencer had been willing to go with him.

"Indeed it is" Spencer said and shrugged. She wasn´t much for small talk. He had arrived just on time to pick her up, 21 pm, and now here they were. At the Kahn´s vacation home, a house that easily could get a prize for the most modern family house 2014.

Toby held the door open for her, brushing his hands together with hers. Something he had done since he picked her up, apparently taking any opportunity for skin contact he could get.

Noel Kahn greeted them with that typical "Secret-douchebag"-smile, and showed them to where the drinks were. They spotted Hanna and Caleb, and Spencer immediately felt more comfortable. Toby was kind, but he was flailing around so much that he was affecting her as well.

They talked about school, sports, shoes (_a subject only interesting to Hanna_). They talked about Hanna´s and Caleb´s one year anniversary of dating. Toby would constantly turn whatever conversation they were having into a question for Spencer to answer, something that became tiring relatively quick.

The amount of people was relatively large, the chattering often causing the need for them to raise their voices to hear each other.

When a group of girls moved away from the large glass window in front of them, going outside, she got a view of the lawn and the pool. And by the pool she saw Paige.

Paige had her legs in the pool, sitting by the edge. Shana was talking with her, the distance between them incredibly small, it almost looked private with Shana occasionally grazing her fingers on Paige´s legs in the pool. It was painfully obvious Shana flirted with her, whereas Paige seemed to have the thickest skull in the world, not getting a clue.

"What´re you glaring at" asked Hanna, noticing Spencer´s attention being elsewhere than on their conversation about the best places for a date.

"Uh, nothing" Spencer quickly snapped back her head, doing her best to show interest at what they were discussing. And of course, Toby nudged closer to her with the subtlety of an elephant.

She didn´t notice herself, how she frowned out the window towards the pool several times. Luckily, she didn´t miss when Lucas got pulled in and Shana showing more of her attention on him instead. Her sadistic side found Lucas moment of demise amusing, and she tried to stop her mouth from smirking.

"Hey you guys"

A greeting made her stop glancing outside, and pull back to her friends. It was Emily, who plopped down on the couch, right next to Hanna.

"Hey Em. You tasted this yet? It´s really strong, Noel doesn´t seem to know how to make drinks" Hanna said, face scrunching up as she gave her half full glass to Emily.

"Yeah, I have" Emily took a sip, her facial expression not changing in the slightest. "I don´t think it´s bad" truth be told, she´d had three of those already.

"Thought you´d say that. It´s odd that you of all people handle strong drinks best" Caleb shrugged with a genuine smile.

"Hey, what´s that supposed to mean" Emily swatting Caleb´s arm playfully.

"How about you Spencer?" Toby immediately turned to her, eyes digging into her own.

"I guess it´s okay" she shrugged.

He went on about his own favorite drinks, trying to probe Spencer with more questions.

Oddly enough, she wanted to go to Paige. Talk with her. Spencer had told her to go to this party in the first place, and yet she hadn´t been able to even greet her yet. Because Toby would most definitely tag along, interrupting them every chance he would get.

"Hey I´ll go get another glass" Toby said, making his way towards the kitchen.

As she glanced out the window, she caught Paige´s eye. She waved at her, giving her an apologetic smile, Paige merely nodding her head at her. Spencer began to worry slightly. _´I hope she doesn´t think I´ve been ignoring her or anything ´_

"Who´re you waving to" Emily asked.

Spencer gave her an indifferent face, shrugging her shoulders as she took a sip from her glass. "Just saying hello to McCullers"

Emily´s eyes widened, staring at Spencer with an odd expression, face unreadable. "She´s here?" she immediately stood up, her eyes searching for Paige through the window.

"Whoa, wait. YOU throwing a wave at Paige McCullers? Do you have a fever? Are you sick?"

"No Hanna, I´m perfectly healthy" Spencer answered with a hint of annoyance.

"When did you even become friendly enough to even give her a frickin´ wave? You were like mortal enemies"

"Hanna, just because we didn´t get along before doesn´t have to mean we´ll be enemies until we die" Spencer said, about to reach for her glass on the table as Emily took it first and downed it, shivering slightly after setting the glass back on the table, and made her way outside. Spencer stared at her; face frozen, looking at Emily like she was a rare specimen.

"Oh, right. Emily and Paige kind of has a… history" Hanna said carefully, trying to give Spencer some clarity about the girl´s odd behavior.

Spencer immediately perked her ears. "A history?"

Hanna shrugged, scooting closer to Spencer. "Yeah, they dated for a really long time, but Paige ended it just a couple of days ago. If I have to be honest, I understand Paige a bit. Emily´s had some baggage"

"Wait. _Dated_, dated? I mean… romance?"

"Yeah" Hanna shrugged, saying it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh" was all Spencer said.

She hadn´t thought about it before. A girl dating another girl. Or well, she _has_, but not seriously. And Paige dated girls. Paige likes girls…romantically. As in, she finds them hot. Spencer could kind of see that Paige would be a seriously good girlfriend though. From what she´d gotten to know about Paige, she was kind, caring, forgiving, brave, and stubborn as a mule. And she was really attractive. She could totally see why girls would fall for her like she was a Hollywood star. And Spencer bet Paige was a really good kisser. _Wait what?_

"Hellooo, earth to Spencer" Hanna sighed as she snapped her fingers in front of her eyes. "What´s with you tonight, you keep zooming out"

"Uh I was just… feeling a bit tipsy." _Nice save Hastings._ "So, is she dating anyone" _Wait, why was she even asking that? _

Hanna laughed, falling back against the couch. "No, she became single just a couple of days ago, I just said that" she glanced outside towards the pool, seeing Emily walking up to Paige. "But it seems Emily don´t want her to be available"

Spencer snapped her head at that sentence, eyes widening as she saw how Paige seemed slightly uncomfortable and nervous with Emily. Emily took her hand and they went inside, brushed past them as Paige and Spencer locked eyes with each other, Spencer´s heart feeling a slight stab of pain, Emily leading Paige upstairs to talk undisturbed.

"I just hope she really has _feelings_ for Paige this time" Hanna murmured and sipped her drink, face becoming flushed. "Wouldn´t want it to become that heavy again, for either of them"

Feelings? Emily didn´t have feelings for Paige before? Is that why Paige broke up with Emily? Wait, wait. Why should Spencer even care. It´s not her problem. She doesn´t have anything to with who Paige chooses to date, hug or kiss. Not any of her business. Spencer squirmed where she sat, taking more and more sips of her drink. And then Toby came back, happy and oblivious, returning to sit flush next to Spencer. Something she did not feel comfortable with anymore.

"Uh, I´m just going to go to the bathroom" Spencer rushed out, standing up and wanted to get away from her friends for a while, when Hanna quickly piped up.

"You want me to come with?"

"No thanks, I prefer to go alone"

She asked Noel, he directed her upstairs.

She went up and noticed that it was pretty much deserted up here compared to downstairs,the first floor full with giddy teenagers. She walked through the hall, when she stopped, hearing muffled talk coming through one of the doors. It was Paige´s voice. And Emily´s. Spencer´s body moved on its own accord, pressing her ear against the door. _What the hell was wrong with her tonight?_

"Paige, I really am in love with you"

Spencer tensed at that sentence, and felt rising agitation. She had never disliked Emily, but now she just felt hostility towards her for some reason.

Then she heard Paige let out a small whimper.

"Look Emily, I´ll always like you but… we can´t be that way anymore"

Once again, Paige released a breathy groan.

"That way? Which way" Emily mumbled, clearly doing her best to make her voice sound seductive "How about I just show you in _which way _I want you, ´cuz I don´t want you as just a _friend_…"

And that´s when Spencer snapped.

TBC.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 **

Emily scooted closer and closer, the two sitting on a large double bed, it´s owner unknown.

Emily took Paige´s hand in hers, her eyes piercing and glistening with their focus only on the girl beside her. The almost non-existent distance and the slight warm burning in their chests, made them both hot and sluggish, one´s body warmth comforting the others. Emily looked down on her hand that was gripping Paige´s and swallowed, trying to get out the right words.

"I´m sorry" she sputtered out. Her mind was a jumble. Both blank as a white page, and yet filled to the brink of explosion. She gave up trying to think of what to say in fear of Paige bolting if she was silent for much longer, and let her mouth just do what it usually did best. Ramble. "I realize now that I treated you incredibly unfair. I´ve only been thinking about myself, and I never really gave you all that I should´ve given you. I didn´t know you´d be here, and I just wanted a chance to speak to you again, outside of school, so I just…"

Emily´s tornado of words got interrupted by a gentle hand, ghostly brushing past her lips as a gesture to calm her galloping mouth.

"Calm down Emily, I´m not just going to disappear. Catch your breath" Paige chuckled, bringing her hands together and giving Emily a reassuring smile.

Emily´s eyes flickered and flew, as she felt her body becoming even warmer from Paige´s bold gesture. Immediately, her hopes returned and she felt the oncoming desire to touch the oblivious girl that was sitting on the large double bed next to her. Emily´s small pink tongue unconsciously peaked out and licked her own lower lip, feeling the haze in her mind. Her eyes once again found Paige´s. "I saw Maya today"

"oh"

Paige´s got a bit stunned as of what to do and say. She´d known about her and Emily, and how Maya had been. She also knew how Emily had gotten more closed off ever since Maya had gone away and ditched her. Was Paige supposed to be happily or angry? Happy that Maya had gotten a small ounce of common sense to get back, or mad that she bothered to show up and risk upsetting Emily again? "What happened?"

"…It´s over. I can´t see how I even bothered to cling on to her even after she ditched." Emily said, neither smiling nor showing any sadness, staring into the air. "I just feel a bit dumb I guess"

"Em you´re not dumb, don´t say that" Paige put a hand on Emily´s shoulder, trying to give the girl some comfort. She felt how she still cared for Emily, wanting her to be happy and have a smile on her face. Even though their relationship hadn´t gone the way they´d wished, Paige felt that Emily had still helped her. Given her help to slowly accept the changes she was going through, even though she sometimes got pressured far too much.

Emily stared into Paige´s eyes, and surprised her when Emily pushed Paige down onto the soft madras, straddling her and holding herself up with her hands on each side of Paige´s head. Paige´s head that was working like crazy to figure out how to react, move, and even breathe.

"_Yes_, I am! I let _you_ go, _you_ Paige, for something so stupid as my inability to let her go!"

Hot, desperate kisses bombarded Paige´s neck and jawline, every time Emily´s lips separated from her skin, Paige´s felt a tinge of warmth where Emily´s lips had rested. It felt so good. She was lost in it, until her thought-process kicked in. Her eyes flew open, and her hand flew up to Emily´s shoulders, trying to stop the desperate girl above her.

"Wait Emily"

It seemed those words had no effect now, as Emily started to nip and lick, intensifying her kisses.

"I can´t wait Paige, I´ve already let you go once. I´ve thought about you…so…much…" she finished, nibbling Paige´s ear and stroking the outer shell with her tongue.

"No look, we´re not like _that_ anymore…" she croaked out, Emily´s fingers stroking her stomach under her shirt becoming far too distracting.

"But we can be" Emily husked out, not stopping her advances. Paige´s head was a mess, not being able to think clearly in the least. Her body was weak and limp, the alcohol she´d consumed during the evening making her unable to gather enough strength to forcibly push Emily off, no matter how much she tried to.

The bed creaked slightly. "Paige I really am in love with you" she said, nibbling on Paige´s throat.

Paige couldn´t stop the whimper she let out. Oh god, this was just too much. In a last feeble attempt to get Emily to stop, she tried to make Emily understand that they were over.

"Look Emily, I´ll always like you but… we can´t be that way anymore"

Emily, who became more and more determined to ease Paige back to her, merely intensified her actions, doing everything she could to make Paige get so riled up that she wouldn´t be able to keep calm anymore and just give in. She bit down on Paige´s throat, not hard but demanding and confident, as she pushed her thigh in between Paige´s legs. Paige´s head shot backwards as she let out a groan, and shut her eyes tight. Emily certainly wouldn´t take no for an answer

Paige´s mind was a storm. A big, warm, hot, storm. She´d lost all ability to think, and all she saw was black.

All of a sudden, a loud `_thump_` echoed through the room, with a yelp. Paige opened her eyes and saw Spencer Hastings, her mouth curved into a smile, though her eyes were like poison needles. Paige couldn´t help but gulp.

Spencer had roughly pulled an unknowing Emily off, the latter falling ass first on the floor. Spencer shot a quick pointed look at the mouth-agape Emily just staring back at her, mind blank and eyes blinking.

"I am so_ terribly_ sorry to interrupt, but Mr. McCullers just called Paige and demands you to be home _immediately_" she said as she grabbed Paige´s arm, pulled her to her feet, and started half-dragging, half-walking her out of the room. She halted by the door and stared at Emily, crawling to her feet on the floor, glaring daggers at Spencer. "I hope you´ve enjoyed the evening" she said with a sickenly sweet tone and dragged a totally clueless Paige with her. Lucas was coming towards them, holding his hands over his mouth and was rushing frantically to reach a bathroom.

"Bathroom´s in there" Spencer said, gesturing towards the room they´d just exited.

Lucas ran in and closed the door. A disgusting belching sound could be heard, as well as shriek no doubt coming from poor little Emily. Spencer merely grinned as she started dialing for a cab, and took Paige with her out from the house and away from the party to the side of the road.

To be continued

**It became a short chapter this time but I hope it wasn´t a huge disappointment. **


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